Even Lincoln, Douglas Would Envy This Debate

Here is where college football is at the start of 1998: Michigan No. 1; Nebraska No. 1.

Where will college football be at the start of 1999?

The new super alliance is supposed to eliminate a shared national title by matching the No. 1 team and the No. 2 team in a four-bowl rotation that will include the Rose Bowl for the first time.

But without a true playoff system, like the ones that exist in every other college sport and all other levels of college football, a national championship via the bowl-poll route has inherent weaknesses that cannot be avoided.

The reason? While its stated purpose is to match No. 1 vs. No. 2, the alliance also wants to preserve the bowl system as we know it. It’s a self-defeating concept no matter which way you look at it.

“In an effort to focus on a championship game, we’re putting all the other bowls in a negative position,” Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said. “It’s like being half pregnant. Either have a playoff or stop worrying about a 1-2 game.”

Had the super alliance been in place this season, college football would have hit the jackpot - matching the only teams with perfect records, ranked 1-2, in the Orange Bowl, in a true title game.

But that’s wishful thinking, and Big 12 commissioner Steve Hatchell knows the new system isn’t perfect, either.

“It’s clear it doesn’t answer all the questions,” Hatchell said. “The super alliance is the third in a progression. What it does is get raised payouts, gives us a better chance at 1 vs. 2 and keeps the bowls alive.”

The first designated title game, the Fiesta Bowl, is set for Jan. 4, 1999.

“Hopefully, next year will work out,” Tranghese said, “but we’re still at risk.”

Views, views and more views

The college football pollsters have spoken, writes Andrew Bagnato of the Chicago Tribune.

“Is there a translator in the house?

The media voters in The Associated Press poll made Michigan a resounding No. 1. The USA Today/ ESPN coaches board picked Nebraska by a whisker.

College football’s national champion has never been more mythical. Although the teams divided the titles, the clear loser was Michigan, which became the first unbeaten team to give up the top spot in either poll after winning its bowl.

The Michigan-Nebraska debate comes at a time when many observers question the fairness and reliability of the polls as a method for determining major college football’s national champion. There surely will be new calls for a playoff, which presidents of Division I-A schools have rejected.”

From Nebraska coach Tom Osborne:

“I hope people didn’t vote for Michigan because they hadn’t won the national championship recently or in 50 years, but simply because they thought Michigan was the best,” Osborne said. “I hope they did the same thing for us… I think the coaches probably looked at the fact that going 13-0 and being unrewarded in some way would be - I don’t want to say an injustice (but) it wouldn’t be a good thing.

“Beauty’s in the eye of the beholder. I’m sure people voted as they did for different reasons. My feeling is that how you vote should be determined by what team you feel would be favored over every other team at the end of the year - regardless of when they last won the national championship or which coach is retiring or all those sidebars.”

Oddly, Osborne’s stance would place the national championship in the hands of Vegas oddsmakers:

“I would probably open Nebraska as a 10-point favorite in that game,” said John Avello, race and sports book director at Bally’s.

“But that doesn’t mean Nebraska is a 10-point favorite,” Avello said shortly after the Orange Bowl ended.

“It really isn’t our job to pick winners, but to put a number up so you will get equal action on the two teams. The best team in the country might be Florida State. They could probably beat Nebraska two out of three times.”

Larry Weiss, night supervisor at the sports book at The Mirage, said, “I think you’d have to make Nebraska a seven-point favorite. I just think their defense would make them that way.”

Michigan wins Rice trophy

Michigan won the 44th annual Grantland Rice Trophy presented to the best team in college football by the Football Writers Association of America.

The Wolverines (12-0), who completed their first perfect season since 1948, won the award for the first time in a vote taken by a five-man FWAA panel.

The Grantland Rice Trophy has been presented every year since 1954 when UCLA won the award. There has been only one tie. That was in 1965 when Alabama and Michigan State were deadlocked.

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